In computer networks, internetworking, communications, integrated circuits, etc. where there is a need to communicate information, there are often interconnections established to facilitate the transfer of the information. One approach is to use dedicated communication “lines” or links to transfer the information. A bus is usually used when more than two devices need to communicate. A traditional way to implement buses is using tristate bus drivers, where one device drives the bus and other drivers are disabled. Another approach is to have each device use a different set of wires and then to use a multiplexer to select the set of wires of the enabled device.
However, in multiplexing a bus, there may be communication points that may not need the full capabilities of the bus. Thus, extending a full bus to these entities may be wasteful of resources, such as space, power, etc. This may present a problem.